Getting it exactly backward

Last Sunday I heard a priest discuss a section of the Gospel of Mark. In the passage, as Jesus is headed to Jerusalem to die, his disciples — behind his back — are arguing over which of them is “the greatest.”

The scene would be laughable if it weren’t so tragic.

In Christian belief, the second person of the Trinity is on his way to give up his body as an atoning sacrifice for mankind, and the dunderheads behind him are getting chesty with one another over who has the best spiritual CV. He’s thinking service; they’re thinking personal glory.

About the time the congregation was ready to mutter a collective “How pathetic,” the Rev. Curt Norman asked, “Of course, we never find ourselves in such arguments, do we?”

And, of course, we do.

We do it in all sorts of endeavors, including, as Norman went on to note, spending hours watching games on TV each weekend “to find out which one is the greatest.”

I’m not someone who thinks engaging in competition is a bad thing, but I do believe that context and perspective are absolutely crucial. Fans often lose perspective. So do high schools and universities. Society as a whole, one could argue, has lost perspective over athletics.

That includes, of course, the players.

In Lawrence, Kan., in the past week there have been three altercations between athletes. No, this wasn’t Jayhawks vs. Wildcats or Cornhuskers or Sooners. This was Jayhawks vs. Jayhawks — basketball players vs. football players — in ugly incidents that involved race baiting and violence. And what were they about?

About women. About status. About ego. About who rules the roost in Lawrence, Kan.
Apparently, this animosity between teams has existed for years at KU. Said one former Jayhawk football player, “It’s a big ego thing. It’s like who pretty much runs the school, who’s better.”

One non-athlete asked why players fought with each other when they all were beneficiaries of full-ride scholarships, while other students pay thousands of dollars for an education.

“I feel like they need to chill out,” the student said. “They’ve got the good life.”
You would think so. But the disease of ego, the disease that blinded the disciples to what life was truly about two millennia ago, continues to blind us today.

It may be misguided that athletes are idolized in our society, but idolized they are. As such, they’re in a position to effect positive change, to serve the greater good by serving others.

I know that there are KU athletes who, through work in the community, do exactly that. While others, wearing the same color uniforms, figuratively traveling the same road, are fighting — literally — over who should be serving them.

Contact Jim Gordon at gjames43@msn.com.